The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded in Scottish culture. It has reflected and contributed to political, social and religious division and sectarianism in Scotland. As a result, the fixture has had an enduring appeal around the world.
The Herald is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. The Herald is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from The Glasgow Herald in 1992. Following the closure of the Sunday Herald, the Herald on Sunday was launched as a Sunday edition on 9 September 2018.
Sectarianism in Glasgow takes the form of long-standing religious and political sectarian rivalry between Catholics and Protestants. It is particularly reinforced by the fierce rivalry between Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C., the two largest Scottish football clubs sometimes referred to as the Old Firm, whose support base is traditionally predominantly Catholic and Protestant respectively. A 2003 report for Glasgow City Council indicated that people clearly believe "sectarianism is still prevalent in Glasgow", but that members of the public were divided on the strength of the relationship between football and sectarianism.
Andrew Jaspan AM is a British-Australian journalist and Founding Director and Editor-in-Chief of 360info. He is the Founder of The Conversation. He was previously editor-in-chief of Melbourne'sThe Age, editor of London's The Observer, The Sunday Times Scotland (Glasgow), Scotland on Sunday (Edinburgh), The Scotsman Edinburgh), and Sunday Herald (Glasgow), and publisher and managing editor of The Big Issue London.
Johnston Press plc was a multimedia company founded in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1767. Its flagship titles included UK-national newspaper the i, The Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post, the Falkirk Herald, and Belfast's The News Letter. The company was operating around 200 newspapers and associated websites around the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man when it went into administration and was the purchased by JPIMedia in 2018. The Falkirk Herald was the company's first acquisition in 1846. Johnston Press's assets were transferred to JPIMedia in 2018, who continued to publish its titles.
The Scottish Daily News (SDN) was a left-of-centre daily newspaper published in Glasgow between 5 May and 8 November 1975. It was hailed as Britain's first worker-controlled, mass-circulation daily, formed as a workers' cooperative by 500 of the 1,846 journalists, photographers, engineers, and print workers who were made redundant in April 1974 by Beaverbrook Newspapers when the Scottish Daily Express closed its printing operations in Scotland and moved to Manchester.
Donald Russell Findlay KC is a Scottish advocate. He has also held positions as a vice-chairman of Rangers Football Club and twice Rector of the University of St Andrews. He is now chairman of his hometown football club Cowdenbeath.
The Catholic Herald is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly magazine, founded in 1888 and a sister organisation to the non-profit Catholic Herald Institute, based in New York. After 126 years as a weekly newspaper, it became a magazine in 2014. In early 2023, a 50.1% controlling stake was purchased by New York based alternative asset firm GEM Global Yield LLC SCS (Luxembourg). It reports 565,000 online readers a month, along with 25,000 weekly registered newsletter subscribers and a print readership distributed in the US and UK, Roman Catholic parishes, wholesale outlets, the Vatican, Cardinals, Catholic influencers, and postal/digital subscribers.
As of the 2011 census, Christianity was the largest religion in Scotland, chosen by 53.8% of the Scottish population identifying when asked: "What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?" This represented a decline from the 2001 figure of 65.1%.
Andrew Rankin Cowie McLellan is a minister in the Church of Scotland. He was Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland from 2002 to 2009.
The Catholic Church in Scotland overseen by the Scottish Bishops' Conference, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church headed by the Pope. After being firmly established in Scotland for nearly a millennium, the Catholic Church was outlawed following the Scottish Reformation in 1560. Throughout the centuries of religious persecution changes, several pockets in Scotland retained a significant pre-Reformation Catholic population, including Banffshire, the Hebrides, and more northern parts of the Highlands, Galloway at Terregles House, Munches House, Kirkconnell House, New Abbey and Parton House and at Traquair in Peebleshire.
James Anthony Kelly is a Scottish politician who has served as General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region between 2016 and 2021, having previously been MSP for Rutherglen from 2007 to 2016.
William Power was a Scottish writer, journalist, and politician. He was the leader of the Scottish National Party from 1940 to 1942, and served as President of the Scottish Convention between 1942 and 1951.
The supporters of Celtic, a Scottish football club, were estimated in 2003 to number around 9 million worldwide. Numerous fan magazines and supporters' websites are dedicated to the club, and there are in excess of 800 supporters' clubs in over 60 countries around the world.
Rangers Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Glasgow.
The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 was an Act of the Scottish Parliament which created new criminal offences concerning sectarian behaviour at football games. The Act was repealed on 20 April 2018.
Carol Monaghan is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow North West in the general election in May 2015. She is the SNP Science, Innovation, Technology and Education spokesperson in the House of Commons.
Between the 1930s and 1970s, the Scottish football club Rangers had an unwritten rule whereby the club would not knowingly sign any player who was a Roman Catholic. This was because Rangers were viewed as a Protestant, British unionist club, in contrast to their Old Firm rivals, Celtic who were viewed as an Irish Catholic club, although Celtic never adopted a discriminatory signing policy. Rangers' policy was ended in 1989 when they signed ex-Celtic striker Mo Johnston, under manager Graeme Souness.
Angela Haggerty is a former journalist, who briefly held a new editor position at the Sunday Herald and online for the activist website CommonSpace. She has been a contributor on Scottish TV and radio, particularly discussing Scottish independence.
